The present invention relates generally to systems and methods of identifying and preventing passage of undesired content in a communication signal. More particularly, the present invention is related to a system and method of adjusting operating mode of a firewall protection system and the passage of material content therethrough.
The Internet is a vast collection of resources from around the world. Computers that have access to the Internet can send and receive data to and from millions of computers via various communication networks. Large amounts of data and information are available and easily accessible. In many situations, it is desirable to limit the amount or type of information that a computer can retrieve and receive. For example, in a business, school, or even a personal computer setting environment the retrieval of pornographic or violent material content may be undesirable. In another example, content may be retrieved by a computer from an unknown or unreliable source that may contain spam, such as advertisements or junk mail, or viruses, which can be annoying or negatively affect system performance.
Various firewalls have been developed to prevent access to or reception of undesirable content. Firewalls were once only considered important for large corporations and network providers. However, with the advent of consumer broadband and the proliferation of automated hacking tools, the use of protective firewall technologies has become important to small businesses and even the average individual user.
Broadband users tend to maintain connection to the Internet or to the World Wide Web (WWW) for extended and continuous periods of time, as opposed to dial-up users, which tend to be session based. As a result of the continuous connectivity, the broadband user is more susceptible and vulnerable to hackers seeking unauthorized access to the computer of the broadband user. The threat of hackers, as well as the access to undesirable information has led to a large number of commercially available firewall solutions, which can be characterized as software-based or hardware-based. Unfortunately, both the current software-based and the current hardware-based approaches have associated disadvantages.
Software-based firewalls consist of software programs that monitor and protect network traffic at the central processing unit (CPU) level. Programs, such as BlackICE™, Zone Alarm®, and Norton™ Personal Firewall, have become increasingly popular. The disadvantages with using these programs are that they suffer from all of the normal installation, compatibility, and conflict issues associated and encountered with existing software programs. Also, although the programs are powerful and flexible in usage, they are difficult to configure, maintain, and update by the average user. A typical user installs a software firewall in a base configuration and then never reopens or adjusts any of the settings contained therein. To adjust a software firewall, for example in a Windows® based setting, a user must be familiar with the various software screens or windows and the settings in each window. The act of performing a software adjustment can be complicated and time consuming.
Hardware-based firewalls refer to software programs that are utilized and contained directly in a computer system modem. This is a significant advantage in that the hardware firewalls are essentially operational from the moment the modem is connected and activated. The hardware firewalls require little to no configuring to operate. The hardware firewalls can also support multiple computers, in a gateway or hub configuration.
However, hardware firewalls also have associated disadvantages, which include having default settings that preclude the use of peer-to-peer applications, such as multiplayer games. It is difficult for the average user to reconfigure a hardware firewall to accommodate these types of applications. To reconfigure a hardware firewall the user must know the Internet protocol (IP) address of the modem in order to access the modem configuration interface. The user must also know the specific values that need to be altered in the interface to appropriately alter the firewall.
Thus, there exists a need for an improved firewall system and method that allows for simple, easy, and quick adjustment of firewall settings.